The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-02-14
News by Way of Aus raIia.

| passengers at the quarantine stations of
| Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, suffer
| ing from smallpox. The disease appears
! to have been contracted during a short
! run ashore at one of the Red Sea ports.
! Only the strictest quarantine prevented
the spread of the epidemic in the Colonies
| Several deaths were recorded
| The Jennings Ministry at Sydney has
I resigned. Sir Henry Parkes has under
taken TO form a Government Parliament
! has been dissolved, and the general cleo
! tons were in progress at latest dates. Sir
/ Henry Parkes promises almost absolute
! free trade.
| The German army has been armed with
| repeating rifles. The French army does
not possess this weapon. Seventy-two thou
sand men of the German reserve have been
called out for practice with it.
Four OF the nine young men convicted
Of rape near Sydne5 have been executed.
The Great Barrier New ZeaIand) muir
derers, Caffrey and Penn, have been SEN
fenced to death.
The Cologne Gazette" threatens that
Germany will COLOMBO Queensland and es-
tabish a German Kingdom in Australia.
Satisfactory prices continue to be paid
for Colonial wool. Prices advanced at
London one to three cents per pound. This
is improving business.
Vice Admiral Henry Fairfax, C. B., has
been appointed to the command of the
Australian station, vice Tryon. The Mel
son will be the flagship
Four hundred dozen of New South Wales
Exhibition wines have been sold at Lon
don by auction at lis Cd to is Cd.
There is a revolt in Abyssinia. A Lon
don dispatch, January 9th; states that
Ras AbOula, at the head of thirty-five
thousand men, is hesitating before making
further attack on Massowah. 1t is held
by Italians. subsequently the Abyssinians
stOrmed the fortress of Hurrur in SOmali,
after defeating the Ameer.
Sixty persons were drowned near Bris-
bane, Queensland, during the recent floods.
Great damage has been done by floods in
New South Wales.
Dunedin, New Zealand, had a fire de-
stroying $3.50 900 property and four lives.
The German Government have informed
Sir Henry Holland that they have acquired
the sovereignty of the Solomon Islands.
The North Anglo-German line are the pur-
chasers of the new territory from the ma
tives. The sale of firearms and spirits has
been forbidden.
Germany has quietly swept the English
market OF Australian preserved meats in
Guiding all arrivals to date.
The French have bought ), ZOO, 900 pounds
weight of Chicago preserved meats.
The British evacuated Port Hamilton,
Corea, which has been coded to China.
The French have evacuated Tamatave,
Madagascar, which they occupied since the
Hova war.
The Prince of Wales will spend week
in Ireland in April.
The wheat crop of Victoria will yield
surplus of 10000 quarters for export; the
South Australian crop is small.
The action of the United States Senate
on the Hawaiian Treaty appeared in the
New Zealand papers two days subsequently.
The 2. and o. S. S. Company offers to I'M
dertake a contract to carry the Colonial
mails for 100000, or a ten year contract
for f85, 900. The Orient S. S. Company
has agreed to accept the reduced bonus
for carrying mails.
A Colonial conference has been convened
by the Secretary of State for Home Affairs,
to meet at London March 18th. All the
self-governing Colonies will be represented.
/ The future of the Pacific will be considered.
Mr. Fender, on behalf of the Eastern Ex-
| tension Company, will submit to the
! Colonial Conference a scheme for re-
| ducing the present cable rates by one
| fourth.
Italy'S attitude towards France is con-
sidered menacing.
A Melbourne dispatch, January 21st,
! states that the tail of a large comet was
! visible last night in the southwest. 1t IS
stated to be a comet of the first magnitude,
invisible in the northern hemisphere. 1t
was also seen at Auckland. About the
same time a comet was discovered at Rio
JanierO.
The British and French Governments
| have mutually recalled their respective
Consuls at Zala, the capital of the Somah
country. 1t is expected that united action
will be taken by the two Governments
with regard to the Somali coast. The Abys-
sinians are ahead of them.
German trade with Australia is largely
on the increase.
The Belgian Government state that the
trade with Australia has now risen to co.
OO0, 900 francs per annum, and urge that
Belgians should exhibit largely at the AIDE
lalde Exhibition.
Since Lord Dillon capitulated to the
Land League, O'Brien paid him $4,000
| ($4O,OOO), the amount of rent collected
from his tenants under the ''plan of cam
paign.".
Ostrich farming has been established in
Auckland district, north of the city, at a
cost of $4,000 ($6OOOD for fifty South
African birds, the export duty upon which
is $500 each.
Russia is said to have 100000 massed men
at Merv to advance upon Afghanistan.
Ru. STA intends to continue the Merv rail
road to Bokhara.
A report has been received from the
Kimberley gold fields, Western Australia,
that thirty-nine blacks have been massa-
cred in that district.
Mr.. Streeter, the well-knOwn London
gem dealer, has leased the Burmah ruby
E. a